Living It Up, and Chopping It Down

After more years than I care to remember, finally got my act together to make a return trip to Cambridge Folk Festival. 





Met up with a couple of friends from university, pitched our tent (after much searching for enough space!), and settled in for three days of music, cider and (we hoped) sunshine.




Noticed that they'd expanded the site a little - extending the field in front of Stage 1 back further, and making room for more concession / food stalls.

(Probably at the expense of the camping - hence the extended search for a pitch!).

For the most part it all looked very familiar though, with the addition of some interesting artworks (including two large male and female wickerwork badgers, and giant knitted bluebells!).

All in all it was a great few days - very relaxing, time to read as well as enjoy the music (which espoused a rather wide definition of 'folk').

The weather was mostly dry (even sunny) during the day, but with a few downpours in the afternoons / evenings.

Luckily we were mostly inside the stage tents when it rained - although it was amusing to see how some people dealt with the wet - one elderly couple seemed to be nesting under a set of umbrellas!


While I was chilling out and enjoying myself, Martin was hard at work at home on the hedges - returning to his leylandii hedge project (last tackled in 2015) - taking it down another foot or so:

Which left him with some major surgery on the other side of the hedge, where it had all got very overgrown:

So, while I was living it up, he was chopping it down - think he's due a well-deserved pint of his own!

Ceredigion Coastal Path 3 - Aberystwyth to Borth

This section of the coastal path has been graded as "hard", but having completed it  twice previously, we knew what to expect (although there were a couple of stretches Sarah was not looking forward to!).

We parked the car in Aberystwyth town centre and began by walking the full length of the sea front from harbour to Constitution Hill.

'Consti' is the second highest peak along this section of the coastal path, however, it is by far the easiest to climb due to its well worn path (or the Cliff Railway for those so inclined!).

Over the top, and we descend on the caravan cornucopia that is Clarach - the last stop for food and drink until Borth.

It is always a wonder to me why so many people visit such a small hamlet, even if it is located in such pleasant surroundings.

Just outside of Clarach we get to the Wallog old lime kilns and Sarn Cynfelin; an ideal spot to picnic and refuel in readiness for the climbs to come.

On the profile graph below we are currently at the 7½ km dip, just over half way in distance but with most of the climbing yet to come.

The Aberystwyth to Borth section of the Coast path follows the cliff edge for most of the way and as such it offers some spectacular views of the ancient rock formations.  

Some of the path is challenging, but Sarah was relieved to find that steps had been added to some of the steeper sections, making the footing much more secure.



It seems a long time coming, but the initial view of Borth does not disappoint.  Even from here we still had a long way to go to catch the train home, although it would mostly be downhill or flat.

















After checking the train times we had time for a swift drink in the Victoria Inn - I cannot help but wonder if Sarah timed her arrival in Borth to allow for this!  As I had to drive home when we got back to Aberystwyth I had to make do with diet coke :(

The final stats from my GPS recorder:

Distance 13.0km
Duration: 4:06
Moving Time: 3:12
Calories: 1487
Ascent: 381 meters

All the Wonders of Warwick!

With a week's holiday ahead of us, we were off to Warwick for a couple of days - primarily to visit Warwick Castle (for which we'd managed to acquire a set of half-price tickets).

Arrived on a sunny Sunday afternoon, stopping at a new (for us) National Trust property, Charlecote Park.  Nice house, nice grounds, very very hot day.

On to Warwick itself, to book into our B&B, have a wander round the town, drink cider in the sun, and indulge in our first curry of the trip.

Day two took us to the Castle - we were already primed with what to expect - something much more along the lines of a visitor attraction than a historic property.  There were indeed archery demonstrations, a giant trebuchet, a 'Flight of the Eagles', and for families lots of opportunities to buy princess and knight outfits for small people . . .

It was also however a stunning property, very well-presented, with some innovative touches (such as Harry Potter style portraits telling the history of the castle).  The set pieces were all very well done too. 

On the downside . . . the sheer number of people . . .  and perhaps a little less attention to conservation aspects than we'd normally expect (no darkened rooms to keep light levels to a minimum here!).  All in all though, a good day out - probably even more so for family visitors.


On our last morning in Warwick we took the advice of a friend and visited St Mary's Church, most of which was rebuilt in the eighteenth century (following the Great Fire of Warwick), but which includes a medieval survival in its Beauchamp Chapel. 






This proved to be a real highlight for me (as an Elizabethan buff), as it contained the tombs of Robert and Lettice Dudley, and their 'noble imp'.

That wasn't the end of the trip, as we moved East to visit family, via a very wet Kenilworth Castle (will have to go back on a drier occasion).

Took the parents for a day out to another new National Trust property at Blickling Hall in Norfolk - lovely exterior, beautiful grounds and the sun was back with us. 


Then, on our final day, we returned to Wales via Attingham Park (a return visit this time).  A good break, and still some days left to get stuck into the garden!

Garden Bounty

Alongside everything else that is going on, the garden is continuing to yield its bounty - here we have potatoes, rhubarb and courgettes (on the cusp of marrowdom):

The tomatoes are coming along too, although the strawberries are proving disappointing - they don't seem to have really got going after last year's major weeding exercise, and the slugs are getting to what fruit there is before we do!

Ceredigion Coastal Path 2 - Borth to Ynyslas

A lovely evening, and keen to maintain momentum following our walk along the Ceredigion Coastal Path to Llanrhystud, decided to strike out and complete the Borth to Ynyslas stretch. 

Due to the locations of bus and train stops, this was always planned to be an added loop to the Aberystwyth to Borth walk, and as we had both recently purchased Nordic Walking Poles this seemed like an ideal opportunity to trial them in the field.

As you can see from the elevation graph below, this was a completely flat walk.  The challenge came from the having to wade through foot high grass alongside the river, and the stone pebbles along the beach; both of which rendered the walking poles too cumbersome to use effectively so they were soon being carried for the majority of the way.

We hadn't ventured into Borth Bog before and weren't sure what to expect.  As it transpired, it was endless grass.  On this walk I think that nature must have gone on holiday as we didn't see much in the way of bird-life or wild flowers - perhaps this was our fault as we were having to watch very carefully where we placed our feet due to the uneven ground camouflaged by the long grass!

I don't see us rushing back to re-walk this stage of the coastal path anytime soon, however, time always dulls the memory, so who knows?

The final stats from my GPS recorder:

Distance 8.3km

Duration: 1:50

Moving Time: 1:40

Calories: 940

Ascent: 0 meters

Ceredigion Coastal Path 1 – Aberystwyth to Llanrhystud

This summer we set ourselves the goal of walking the Ceredigion Coastal Path.  Not on consecutive days, but over the course of the summer as the temperamental Welsh weather permits.  

Conveniently, the official website lists the walk over seven stages . . . so when Sarah’s university friend Samantha chose a fantastic weekend weather-wise to visit, it seemed like a good opportunity to kick start part 1 of the 60 mile walk.  

We settled on Aberystwyth to Llanrhystyud as none of us had done this before and it seemed to offer an interesting challenge – we were not disappointed!  

Having parked the car at Tanybwlch, we loaded up our rucksacks and headed off towards the daunting Alltwen hill:

The climb itself was not as formidable as we were expecting (helped perhaps by a couple of sturdy Leki walking poles purchased to help Sarah up the hills!)  Having got to the top we all agreed it was easier to climb than it would have been to descend – walking poles or no walking poles!

The view from the top did not disappoint, and in the absence of a café serving cake, it was a satisfactory reward for the effort.

I’d like to say that this was the lion's share of climbing along the walk, but from the GPS profile below you can see this was not the case, however it was by far the steepest climb.

Carrying on along the coast we came to the remote location of Ffos Lâs. It is pleasing to see that someone is taking the time and effort to restore it.  

(We think this was the house where Mathias had his caravan on Hinterland, the detective 'Welsh noir' drama filmed around Aberystwyth.)

Next stop was near Monk's Cave where we had a bite to eat and Samantha was able to refuel on tea!  I visited Monk's Cave over 20 years ago and remember being able to walk down to the sea.  This photo (found online) was taken 11 years ago - no sign of this feature can be seen today, it appears coastal erosion has taken its toll and the only way down now would be to abseil!

It was a surprise to come across the Penderi Cliffs nature reserve. 

On this occasion we did not enter the reserve to see the hanging oaks - maybe next time as it certainly looks an interesting place to visit and it will give us an excuse to do the walk again!

Sarah didn’t take too kindly to these narrow exposed paths with the steep drops, although the local sheep didn't seem to mind too much.

The stunning views along the way (and probably the thought of a refreshing cider in the Black Lion, Llanrhystud) kept both Sarah and Samantha motivated and moving along though!

Towards the end of the walk, the wind started to pick up and it clouded over, but this did not take away from the enjoyment of the day.  

Journeys end, the caravan site at Llanrhystuyd and the long awaited pub – which sadly we never got to visit due to bus times.

When we arrived back in Aberystwyth, not to be robbed of their cider reward, Sarah and Samantha headed to the Ship and Castle, while I walked back to Tanybwlch to collect the car.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable first stage to our Coastal Path walk and one which we we may well revisit.

The final stats from my GPS recorder:

Distance 16.7km (10.4 miles)

Duration: 6:00

Moving Time: 4:30 (I spent a lot of time waiting for Sarah and Samantha to catch up!)

Calories: 2240

Ascent: 605 meters